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The 18th Academy Awards Memorable Moments

Best Picture: The Lost Weekend

The Lost Weekend also won Academy Awards for Best Actor (Ray Milland), Directing (Billy Wilder), and Writing – Screenplay (Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder).

Joan Crawford was the biggest newsmaker of the evening when she won the award for Best Actress (Mildred Pierce). Due to illness, she was confined to her bed so the award was accepted on her behalf by her director, Michael Curtiz.

Bob Hope and James Stewart were co-hosts of the ceremony.

In January 1945, the major evacuation of Auschwitz began.

On February 19, 1945, the Battle of Iwo Jima began when approximately 30,000 U.S. Marines landed on Iwo Jima.

In March 1945, Anne Frank died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

Sylvester the Cat made his debut in Life with Feathers, which received an Academy Award nomination for Cartoon Short Subject.

On April 12, 1945, President Roosevelt died in Warm Springs, Georgia, and Vice President Harry S. Truman became the 33rd president of the United States.

On April 19, 1945, the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel opened on Broadway.

On April 28, 1945, Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, were executed by Italian partisans.

On April 30, 1945, Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun committed suicide.

On August 6, 1945, the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb, nicknamed Little Boy, on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, the U.S. dropped Fat Man on Nagasaki, Japan.

On October 24, 1945, the charter establishing the United Nations was ratified.

In November 1945, the Nuremberg Trials began.

Special Award

To Walter Wanger for his six years service as President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Special Award

To Peggy Ann Garner, outstanding child actress of 1945.

Special Award

To Republic Studio, Daniel J. Bloomberg and the Republic Studio Sound Department for the building of an outstanding musical scoring auditorium which provides optimum recording conditions and combines all elements of acoustic and engineering design.

Special Award

To The House I Live In, tolerance short subject; produced by Frank Ross and Mervyn LeRoy; directed by Mervyn LeRoy; screenplay by Albert Maltz; song The House I Live In, music by Earl Robinson, lyrics by Lewis Allan; starring Frank Sinatra; released by RKO Radio.